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CSPedia:Manual of Style
There are several rules here, which are created to reflect reality instead of political sensitivity. Political sensitivity is reflected in the acceptance of and description of other viewpoints in articles. However, political sensitivity does not DICTATE what articles or things are called or how they are referred to. Let's take the example of the hotly-debated city name in Northern Ireland: Londonderry. Your humble creator of this Wikia often refers to the city as 'Derry' in conversation. In a more formal setting, such as the written word, your humble creator will almost unerringly refer to the city by its actual name 'Londonderry'. This is not a political aspiration. It is merely the same treatment given to, for example, the town of Carrickfergus: 'Carrick' for short, but 'Carrickfergus' in more formal settings. The city shall be referred to as Londonderry throughout this Wikia, unless referring to the abandoned monastic site which partially inspired the name of the city, or when quoting somebody (be careful to ensure the reader is aware of what is meant by 'Derry" in such cases). The city council for that very same city has, however, renamed itself 'Derry City Council'. It reflects reality, therefore, to refer to that council throughout this Wikia as 'Derry City Council' (unless referring to its previous name). The county was NEVER called 'Derry'. The county was previously called County Coleraine. It was then renamed as 'County Londonderry'. That is how it shall be referred to throughout this Wikia. The United Kingdom is the common name for the country which is known by its long form name of 'the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland'. In the interests of creating as non-ambiguous Wikia as possible, the country shall be referred to as the UK or the United KIngdom throughout, unless quoting a book title or person etc. When quoting a book title or person, one must ascertain whether or not that book or person is referring specifically to the island of Great Britain, or is erroneously and ambiguously referring to the whole of the UK (or, as sometimes is the case, referring to the whole of the British Isles). 'Britain' and 'Great Britain' are names which are deemed unacceptable in this Wikia, as the names are too ambiguous to be entirely useful. Demonyms: the demonym for a person or thing from England is English. The demonyn for Scotland is Scottish. The demonym for Wales is Welsh. The demonym for Northern Ireland is Northern Irish. There is absolutely no sane rationale which can explain an avoidance of the demonym 'Northern Irish' other than 'I Don't Like It'. A person from Liverpool is a Liverpudlian. A person from Manchester is a Mancunian. A person from London is a Londoner. A person from Glasgow is a Glaswegian. A person from Belfast is a Belfastian. A person from Bangor is a Bangorian. A person from North America is a North American. A person from Northern Ireland is Northern Irish. Citizenship: A person who is born before 1980 in Northern Ireland is British, no matter what their political aspiration. This means that Gerry Adams is British, even though he doesn't like it. It is unfortunate for him, but that doesn't make it any less a fact. If Gerry Adams also has citizenship of the Republic of Ireland, then that should be noted in any infobox. The nationality of his country of birth should be listed first, followed by which ever country he applied for citizenship in. The Beflast Agreement (or Good Friday Agreement) has no bearing on this, as it merely suggests a politically sensitive approach for government bodies and is not, in and of itself, an actual law. It is an international treaty, which does make it internationally accepted code of conduct between two countries. However, it does not over-rule the law of the UK, which states that anyone born before 1980 in any part of the UK is British. This law is the same as US law. The British citizenship law has changed since 1980, however. Today, one has to be born to at least one British parent on British soil to qualify automatically as a British citizen. "UK citizen" is just not acceptable. 'British' is the correct demonym. Likewise for the government: it is the "British government" - a huge preference gramatically speaking over "UK government". For that matter, conversely, it is the "US government" in preference to the "American government". Flags: we might consider some extent of political sesitivity when dealing with indivduals throughout this Wikia. For example, when a table requires graphics to depict nationality, for a person who is by default British from Northern Ireland but specifically has declared a different nationality, then the flag can be omited - indicating ambiguity between the person's wish and/or second nationality, and the de facto nationality such a person has. If there is doubt, then use the flag of Northern Ireland or the Union Jack (as appropriate). If a person has specifically taken citizenship of another country AND has officially renounced British citizenship, then the flag of Northern Irelanbd and the Union Jack are no longer appropriate (unless such flag usage pre-dates the renouncing of British citizenship). The bottom line though, is that Northern Ireland as an entity will not be ignored here, as it often is willfully ignored in Wikipedia. Historical places: When referring to historical places and articles, the current name of the country in which that place exists will be used (unless quoting sa person or arganisation). For example, an article about the history of Colchester - an ancient Roman site - can be referred to as being in England... even though England had not yet existed at the time of the era being written about. Likewise, an article about the ancient monastic site of Daire can be described as being in Northern Ireland. The British Isles is a legitimate and very ancient name which was given to the islands by Celtic-speaking peoples who interacted with Greek and Roman historians and travellers. This Wikia is not interested in re-writing history in order to satiate political sensitivities of those who willfully or ignorantly misconstrue the meanings of words (in this case 'British'). The term 'British Isles' is not a political term. It is not a term invented during the height of the Evil™ British Empire! This wikia is not interested in trying to find alternative terms to satisfy (often genuinely) ignorant people who might be offended. Rather, it would seek to explain the historical terms and give context so that people can gain better understanding of the historical context. This benevolent dictator is happy to enter into discussion on any or all of these issues and is, believe it or not, open to adapting and to compromise. However, these guidelines will be enforced until such time as alternative solutions are accepted, or something drastic happens to the constitutional status of various countries, or until a time-traveller actually changes history. In which case, this page would already look very different anyway, presumably! Names of countries continued: Ulster is not the name of Northern Ireland, and it should not be referred to as such unless specifically discussing how some people have or do refer to Northern Ireland as 'Ulster', or when quoting someone. Referring to Northern Ireland as Ulster is ambiguous, as Ulster is already a province. Ulster is larger than Northern Ireland, and Northern Ireland is contained wholly within the province of Ulster. Likewise, Ireland is larger than the Republic of Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland is contained wholly within Ireland. But the two are not equal. Therefore, in the interests of clear meaning and controlling ambiguity, this Wikia will refer to the southern Irish state which is independent of the UK, as the Republic of Ireland. The Republic of Ireland is a name which is also provided for in legal documents by that state, itself. The government of that country uses the name itself, both internally and externally (despite there having been a push in more recent years to refer to itself exclusively as 'Ireland'). It is stated in the Republic of Ireland Act of 1948, "the description of the State shall be the Republic of Ireland". A name is a description. Therefore, the name of the state is the Republic of Ireland. The official name of the state is 'Éire'. However, this is the name in Gaelic. The name for Spain is España. This is an English-language Wikia though, so we refer to the names of things in English, or the English version or English equivalents.